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I currently play Space Marines and Orks. I am interested in moving to Fantasy Orks and was wondering if someone who plays Orks in both games can give me some idea if they play pretty much the same? I am also wondering what army would have a similar play style in Fantasy as the SMs?

Hmmm.
Fantasy and 40K are so different that it's hard to say if they play the same or not. I play Orks and Orcs, so I'll try and answer.

Orcs have an army wide special rule called Animosity. Basically, at the start of every turn, every unit with more than 5 guys rolls, and on a 1 they do nothing, on a 6 they surge forward d6 inches. Once a game the boss can give them a bonus to help ensure the units are more likely to move forward, but a 1 is still a failure.
This rule is very punishing. A lot of times it's going to work against you, but sometimes it will work in your favour. There are workarounds also, like taking black orcs in your units to stop the fighting from happening.

The army is based around big blocks of infantry, which are slow and cheap. Orcs are badly armoured but tough, and that means something. Goblins are dirt cheap and can take fanatics, which can be utterly devastating to the opponent. A lot of people would run all goblin because of this, and their cheap bolt throwers.
The difference between these hordes of troops and the Orks in 40K is that they have very average to poor leadership (7 for orcs, 5 for night goblins). This is very different to orks in 40K who don't have to worry about it until the unit is nearly dead. It's made twice as bad by the fact that Ld is one of the most important stats in fantasy- break tests are lethal, and monsters and scary troops can make your troops not charge them or even run away if they fail a check. This can be really bad news.

The other stuff you have access to is wacky stuff like goblins riding squigs, which works pretty well actually, wolf riders, boar riders, spider riders as your cavalry, none of which are terrible but all of whom suffer from Animosity and poor leadership. Warmachines are good, especially bolt throwers because you can have loads and they're cheap. Giants are fun too, and trolls can do some damage used properly.
On the whole, it's similar in that it's an infantry horde with oddball stuff, but it doesn't really play the same way at all. It's fun in concept, and has some great units, but is not really that strong when compared to the power lists. That said, if the people in your group don't go for all out power you could have a lot of fun.

As for space marines, there isn't really an equivalent. There are elite armies- Chaos Warriors, Lizardmen, and I suppose Elves, but none of them are that similar to space marines. I hope this has been a bit helpful.

Orcs in Fantasy are just a fun army, they wont win you a golden Chopper, but you'll have a load of fun watching them do all sorts of hilarious things. if your at all competitive stear clear of em. oh and on a final note they do tend to get boring after a while because they have a problem of good armour, and high strength. you'll have to combine alot of things to make a strong army, and then watch it fall apart from failed tests but you'll laugh for a while as it happens.

Thank you to you both. I have interest in a few armies for Fantasy, heck almost all of them if I had the cash. I'm sure of Orks, but I'm still deciding on a second army. I am planning on purchasing the Battle for Skull Pass set so I'll give the Dwarfs a test drive with that.

Da Boss: I appreciate your insights in to the Warhammer system that make it differ from 40K. I will take these into account when looking through the army books.

I think Space Marines can be compared to the human Elite Knights (Inner Circle, Grail Knights) and the Empire's Greatswords/Reiksguard, while these are not as superhuman as the SM, they're the human's elite shock troops with high mobility and (for humans) superior stats.

I think choas mortals are more compariable to space marines. High armour saves, high WS, str 4, to 4, leadership 8 all over the place.

If I was going to pick, I'd say Chaos mortals too, but they don't have any real shooting. They can get thrown weapons and the hellcannon, but that's it, right?
For a space marine analogue I'd want something that was good all round, and elite. Lizardmen fit the bill, but they're not very space marine-y really- your saurus are highly elite and brilliant at close combat, and your skinks are great harassers/shooters, but are fragile. So it's not the same as having close combat and shooting ability locked into one unit. I don't think you can really find that in Fantasy, unless it's High Elf Lothern Sea Gaurd, who are good at both. But they're pansy elves.

Oh, if you want sheer power, Daemons of Chaos are by far the most army in fantasy right now.

Elves are good all around, save for their low toughness. Lizardmen shooting is annoying though ill give you that. Also large blocks of sarus warriors and temple guard are hard to deal with.

nieto666 wrote:I think choas mortals are more compariable to space marines. High armour saves, high WS, str 4, to 4, leadership 8 all over the place.

from a rules point of view (the stats and being a seperate race), you're right. Fluff-wise, they are off course CSM, while any human knight is a SM. Their functions in their societies are as similar as can be with the difference in technology, philosophy and scope (in 40k you lead a detachment, in WFB an army). In army scale conflict, SM team up with Imperial Guard, same goes for Knights and commoners.